Five Tips to Search for Companies Online

A good question to focus your queries before you start is, what kind of information could improve your decisions?

If you’re a freelancer, you might be hoping to avoid a horror story client, researching compensation rates in your market, or even looking for future clients during a lull. If you’re a small business owner, you may want to understand more about a potential partner’s track record, finances, and history.

Whatever you seek, use these five tips to find what you’re looking for.

Tip One: Google Is Your Best Friend

Chances are, Google is already your first stop for finding the homepage of a company you want to know more about. But combining the company name with simple keywords can give you a whole range of new information. Wondering who they already work with? Try “partners” or “partnership”. How about their clients’ or former freelancers’

opinions? Try adding “review”, “experiences”, “problem”, “how I felt”or other subjective phrases. Others to consider are words such as “compensation” or “value”, or be imaginative and get industry-specific.

Tip Two: Check Companies House Records

This is the go-to place for basic information on private companies. As it provides a huge amount of information – you can access this directly or check out somewhere like Duedil which presents the data in more manageable formats.

Tip Three: Yahoo Finance, Goliath

If the company you’re looking up is publicly held, head to Yahoo Finance. The first thing you’ll want to find out is the stock exchange ticker symbol. This is your code to the company in the world of finance. See what else Yahoo has to say, then take the ticker symbol with you to Tip Four (below).

Tip Four: See What the Insiders Are Saying After Yahoo, SeekingAlpha, FlyOnTheWall, and Briefing.com offer expert news and analysis of movements in the markets. While larger financial news sources may carry more weight, they tend to cover accordingly large companies and stocks.

Tip Five: Crowdsource Cleverly

Online social networks, pervasive as they are, are your best source for more subjective information. On a professional level, LinkedIn is the best way to find real people to talk to. (You can search companies from the homepage by selecting “Companies” from the drop down menu on the search bar.) On every company page, LinkedIn gives you a handy box on the right-hand side of your screen, detailing exactly how many connections you have there. More informal sites like Facebook and Twitter give a less filtered view. Here is also where many people’s lack of discretion can be a boon. Of course, make sure to value comments found there as highly as you would as those from a stranger on the street.

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